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By ANNA FIORENTINO, Staff Writer Monday, February 26, 2007

Bubbly conversation among youthful regulars, floating to the top, filled the room like sparkling wine -- sweet not dry.

It wasn't your typical bar crowd, made apparent by the stark walls and stately ceilings demanding slacks, not jeans, french bread, not pretzels.

Still, the attendees were drawn to the venue for a familiar reason: to meet interesting new people.

The bar was brought inside the foyer of the Portland Museum of Art to a group of 250 young people, much more than the anticipated 40 guests. They came for a free drink, a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum, and to learn about joining a new group that will present them with similar events called the Young Contemporaries.

But it wasn't your typical museum crowd either; rather they were art aficionados in training.

"We like to think of it as, 'get a little culture with your cocktail,' " said Amber Degn, director of foundation and corporate support for the museum.

Formed by the Portland Museum of Art, this vibrant new bunch of young supporters will enjoy a lively mix of engaging programs and hip social events that foster greater appreciation of the museum, its collections and the larger Maine arts community.

The first-ever, one-time freebie cocktail party and behind-the-scenes tour of the museum on Feb. 1 gave prospects a taste of life as a paying member. If they join the Young Contemporaries it will give the museum just what it needs to press ahead into the new millennium: financial backing from the younger demographic.

A $250 annual fee gets members into at least four annual events. The next, tentatively scheduled for the beginning of April, will be a behind-the-scenes tour of the new Whitney Art Works on Congress Street. Other perks include an annual Portland Museum of Art membership, which also applies to major metropolitan museums across the country like Hartford's Wadsworth Antheneum and the Denver Art Museum.

The night permitted wandering past the "staff only" sign into the bowels of the museum where tiny chairs sat empty and drawings were on display in a laboratory where the budding paint strokes belong to even younger contemporaries in training: those taking classes at the museum's community arts center. Later, in another hard-to-find corner of the museum, Director Dan O'Leary stretched the group's interpretation of the rolling waves in one of his favorite paintings, Winslow Homer's "Weatherbeaten, 1894."

The artist, he explained, pioneered a pre-photojournalistic regionalization of one of his favorite spots.

"If you've seen the water this high at Kettle Cove, it's like going to the forum in Rome and finding where Caesar died," he said motioning to the painting.

By the end of the night the Young Contemporaries membership had doubled to near 70, proving young ambitious word travels fast and pays off in a city in demand of hip social events for the "thinking person."

"I came to experience a lively side of the museum you don't usually get to see," said Malcolm Andrews, a financial adviser for UBS Investment Bank, who chatted it up with his peers at a prime spot near the hors d'oeuvres table, which was a culinary mural in and of itself.

Local establishments including 555, Maine Root, Flatbread Company, Cold River Vodka and The Cheese Iron sponsored the Young Contemporaries event.

"We wanted to support a larger arts community," said Young Contemporaries steering committee member Hilary Robbins. "Tonight that is really highlighted in the culinary arts. There are so many talented chefs in the area we wanted to showcase."

Elated to accommodate the larger-than-expected turnout, the museum staff promised similar future events to paying members.

"It gets younger people interested in the arts in Portland and supporting the museum," said Degn. "It brings a new life to the museum."

Forming groups like Young Contemporaries is part of a national trend in which museums bring events to 25- to 45-year-olds.

Here in Portland, the first attempt took place about a decade ago, when the museum experimented with a singles night of sorts, and then again in 2003 when they started a contemporary art group for all ages. Both were discontinued soon after they began due to lack of interest.

Naturally, the solution was to combine the two ideas.

"We decided to revitalize it under the new name," said Degn. "Now, it's not strictly focused on contemporary art and encourages younger people interested in arts in Portland to support the museum."

Ultimately she hopes to generate support for the museum and establish a new generation of leaders and board members, who are almost always between the ages of 50 and 70.

But for their first attendees, many who indeed came single, it was "all about meeting people and enjoying their company, at work or here," said Andrews.